Punjab announces input tax waiver on food processing

Punjab's food processing sector will now get complete tax waiver. Companies operating in the sector will get exemption on value-added tax, central sales tax and purchase tax, Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal said at the second Invest Punjab Summit at the Indian School of Business, Mohali.

Addressing corporate leaders, including Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Munjal, Y C Deveshwar, Ajay Piramal and Chanda Kochhar, Sukhbir said given that Punjab contributes 60 per cent of foodgrains to India's central pool, it should also supply the same proportion of value-added food products.

Punjab signed 374 MoUs worth Rs 1.13 lakh crore so far in the summit. In the first summit in December 2013, MoUs worth Rs 67 crore were signed, of which projects worth Rs 42,000 crore have been cleared.

MAKING A BIG PITCH

• Punjab signed 374 MoUs for Rs 1.13 lakh cr in the second edition of Invest Punjab
• Pledges concessional rate of power at Rs 4.99/unit without any surcharge for 5 yrs
• 2,000 skill centres to be operational in a year to impart skills to 150,000 youngsters

The state government plans to launch an integrated food park at Ludhiana, a green tech valley at Phagwara and a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility adjoining the international airport at Mohali.

Sukhbir also announced concessional rate of power at Rs 4.99 a unit without any surcharge for five years. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, also the chairman of the panel of chief ministers on skill development, said 2,000 skill centres would be operational in a year to impart skills to 150,000 youngsters. The state government has collaborated with ICICI Bank, Wal-mart, ITC, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, Uber and Maruti to run these centres.

Delegates from Poland, China, Hungary, South Korea and companies from the US, UK, France, Italy and Singapore also participated.